Lt. Gov. Says No Large Public Outcry For His Resignation

Wednesday

Jan 8, 2014 at 4:12 AMJan 8, 2014 at 9:26 AM

LITTLE ROCK — Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Darr was unrelenting in his refusal to resign Wednesday in the face of moves by legislative leaders within his own party to remove him from office for misuse of tax dollars and campaign funds.

LITTLE ROCK — Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Darr was unrelenting in his refusal to resign Wednesday in the face of moves by legislative leaders within his own party to remove him from office for misuse of tax dollars and campaign funds.

The state Ethics Commission last week fined Darr $11,000 for violating state ethics and campaign finance laws. The voices of Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation are among a bi-partisan chorus calling for the lieutenant governor to step down.

Darr remained obstinate Wednesday.

"I haven’t heard a public outcry for my resignation. I’ve heard a political outcry," he said during an interview on Little Rock radio station KHTE’s "The Alice Stewart Show." "I just don’t hear constituents coming forward in droves and picketing in Sheridan or Hot Springs Village or anywhere else demanding for my head."

Those who have "are either acting politically, they’re ignorant of the facts or they’re having an emotional response," Darr said.

He said he harbors no ill will toward GOP legislative leaders who are moving to firm up impeachment procedures.

House Republican leader Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, said Tuesday that impeachment proceedings were "inevitable" after Darr refused to step down. House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, said Wednesday that he hoped to appoint a bipartisan committee in the coming days to research the options for impeaching Darr, who is refusing to step down over ethics violations tied to his campaign and office spending.

Though the basic framework for impeaching an elected official is spelled out in the state constitution and state law, Carter said lawmakers face plenty of unanswered questions on how to move forward with impeachment.

"There’s the beginning and the end," Carter told The Associated Press, referring to the state law and constitution. "All the in between in the House is not there."

"People have to do what they have to do," Darr said Wednesday. "I asked the people of Arkansas for forgiveness, and it would be wrong of me to ask for forgiveness if I’m not willing to forgive those people."

Asked by Stewart what it would take for him to relent and resign, Darr said he would be "in there as long as it’s right for me and my family."

"As long as my wife and my kids are OK … as long as I feel that we can handle it as a family, we’re in it," he said. "The second that I feel that it’s not in the best interest of my family, whether it be before impeachment or after impeachment or whatever, then we’ll move on to what’s next."

According to the AP, the last time an impeachment was attempted in Arkansas was in 1871, three years before the state’s current constitution was adopted. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Gov. Powell Clayton survived impeachment in 1871 when the Legislature failed to take up allegations raised by a rival faction known as the "Brindletails." Legislators ultimately sent Clayton to Washington as a U.S. senator the same year.

Since then, the closest the Legislature has come to an impeachment fight is when former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, believing that his Whitewater convictions would be reversed on appeal, reneged on a promise to resign July 15, 1996. The decision set off what then-Attorney General Winston Bryant called "a constitutional crisis."

Bryant called Tucker a "usurper" in a lawsuit filed to have Tucker declared unfit for office because of his fraud and conspiracy convictions. A half-hour later, Mike Huckabee, who ascended to the governor’s office, gave Tucker until 9 a.m. the next day to quit or face legislators in impeachment proceedings.

Tucker resigned at 6 p.m. that night, ending the matter in four hours.